From the Guardian:
Ameera Ahmad, 25, gave birth to daughter Layan six months ago. Here, she tells of life under siege and of her struggle to bring up a child after 18 months of Israeli blockade
During the months of the blockade, everything in my life has changed. Before, I would wake up and hope that tomorrow would be better than today. But it never happened. The reason is simple. It is because I live in Gaza, where all dreams and hope vanish because of the situation we live in.
Even the most basic things are really hard to find. My daughter, Layan, is six months old. Things are so tough here that even when I needed to buy baby formula for her, I can't find it. All the money that my husband Fady and I had saved up we have spent during the last three months. I never imagined that my children would grow up like this, in this awful predicament. Poor and always threatened.
Blocked in by sea and land on all sides, even in the south by Egypt, the state of the economy is dismal. The only way in or out for people, humanitarian aid, and products is through checkpoints whenever and wherever the Israelis choose to open them. Of course, Hamas should stop shooting rockets into Israel. But the Palestinians in Gaza are people of no hope. Now the Israeli invasion of Gaza is a reality, along with the continued bombing. In the short term, the Israelis may stop the rocket fire, but what is the long-term plan? The longer the Israelis pound Gaza, the more world opinion will turn against them. Where is the advantage for Israel? What is the end game?
Look at the result of the Israelis attempt to destroy Hezbollah in Lebanon. The group exercises more influence in the country now than before the Israeli attacks. The Israelis should take a lesson from Lebanon and rethink their policies toward Gaza. The more killing and maiming and hardship, the more Palestinians will see Hamas as their only hope.
Back to Ameera:
It is strange. When you walk around Gaza and talk to people in the streets you think that people look happy and normal, getting on with their lives. It is only when you look into their eyes that you see the fear.
Before Layan was born, my husband and I used to talk a lot about whether we should try to leave. Whether it would be better if she was not born here. We still think about leaving Gaza, but we can't get out because of the siege.
The Israelis only let out some people who are really ill and a few people with special passes. The rest of us are trapped. Even then, it is hard to find someone to offer you an invitation from outside which might make it possible to leave.
UPDATE: Juan Cole says:
It may still be 10 or 20 years in the future. But because of Israel's economic and demographic vulnerabilities, for it to lose the war of global public opinion may ultimately be more consequential than either macro-war or micro-war.
UPDATE 2: Blogger Brian R said...
Mimi, I agree with you. I have no support for Hamas but feel Israel is going too far. All I can suggest is people find a way to give practical aid by support for the Al Ahli Arab Hospital. It is run by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. I have been able to support it through Anglicord here in Australia but am sure Americans can find a way to send support by a search on the net. Because of its location in the centre of the City, the Hospital is able to receive casualties from a number of heavily populated neighbourhoods. It works closely with the Palestinian National Authority Ministry of Health, so when there is a demand for patient care, Ahli Arab Hospital is the first to receive the overflow from the government hospital in the central area of Gaza. While a Christian (Anglican/Episcopal to be precise) run hospital it helps all people so I feel it is a way I can give a small practical gift rather than just sitting here wringing my hands.
Brian, that is an excellent suggestion. Here's the address for the website to make a donation.
UPDATE 3: Ann Fontaine suggests another way to help, Episcopal Relief and Development.
Click on Ann's name to read her sermon from yesterday, which also deals with the subject of Gaza.
Hamas fires rockets into Israel.
ReplyDeleteIsrael responds by hitting Gaza with ridiculous amounts of firepower.
Because the Hamas guys live among ordinary Palestinians in Gaza, you end up with horrendous civilian casualties, which makes Israel look pretty evil to the rest of the world.
Yet Israel will keep rising to the bait in exactly the same manner.
And Hamas is willing to keep sacrificing the people they're supposed to be fighting for.
I blame both sides for being evil and/or stupid, but the damn picture never changes!
And with this supersized comment, I return to the blogosphere. Hi Mimi!
PJ, I blame both sides, too. The Hamas leader who was killed along with his several wives and children must have known that he was a target. Why didn't he have the women and children in a safer location? Hamas does not have the welfare of the Palestinian people as their priority. Their goal is power, however they can get it.
ReplyDeleteThe Israelis look like bullies, because they act like bullies. Over an 8 year period 15 Israelis were killed by rockets. I don't know what the death toll is in the latest fighting. It's possible that more than 15 Israelis have already been killed, and the last count of Palestinians killed that I saw was 430 from a day or so ago. I'm sure it's more now.
Welcome back to the blogosphere, PJ!
During World War II, all sides calculated that they could bomb each other's civilian populations into surrender or rebellion. All sides were wrong. Bombed civilians only became more loyal to their rulers and more dug in and determined.
ReplyDeleteIsrael is having the same experience and learning nothing from it. Hamas will emerge stronger than ever no matter who "wins" this current conflict.
Juan Cole is sadly right.
CL, I've been wanting to write something about Gaza for days, but I was blocked. Ameera's story gave my hook.
ReplyDeleteI hope that Obama steps away from blind support of every action of the Israelis.
That was in insightful post. Violence breeds more violence not less.
ReplyDeleteViolence breeds more violence not less.
ReplyDeleteJohn, thanks. You're right.
Mimi, I read that little piece and there's one thing I didn't see there: any indication, any acknowledgement that Hamas' goals and methods were in any way wrong.
ReplyDeleteThere are three things to remember when dealing with this situation:
1)Hamas's stated goal is to kill as many Israelis (civilians as well as soldiers) as possible, and their desired end state is one in which those Jews who have not been killed outright are at best barely tolerated. On the side, they also want to do the same thing to any and all Christians, gays, and opinionated females they can lay their hands on, but their focus remains on killing Jews. They'll kill me before they kill you, but they won't mind killing you.
To say that Hamas is not the sort of folk to whom one can say "Come, let us reason together" is an understatement.
2)Hamas's attitude to its civilians is that they are useful for propaganda. The humanitarian situation, while it would still exist, would not be nearly so bad if it were not for the fact that Hamas is refusing to let in doctors, medical supplies, and other aid from Egypt. That way, of course, they can get pictures on CNN of how bad the hospitals, etc. are. But the basic rule of Hamas is that a dead Palestinian child is not a tragedy; nor is a deal Israeli child a tragedy. For them, a dead Palestinian child is a propaganda coup, and a dead Israeli child is a victory.
3)Ameera and her fellow Gazans, by and large, have no problem with Hamas' goals, and support them. You don't heare of any Gazans saying that Hamas' rocket attacks were wrong. The Gazans want Israelis to die; they have no right to complain if instead they are the ones to die--and they will have no right to do so until and unless they get rid of Hamas as their governing body.
What Israel is doing may lead in the long run to more Israelis being killed; but if Israel does anything else, it is merely allowing more Israelis to be killed in the short run.
The best analogy is radiation and chemotherapy. Yes, it does kill some good, otherwise viable cells, but it's necessary, because of lack of better tools, to kill the cancer.
Kishnevi, the piece may not have said that Hamas is wrong, but I said it. I gave my opinion of Hamas and of what Israel is doing. I don't know what is in Ameera's mind. You'd have to ask her.
ReplyDeleteI do not agree with your analogy to radiation and chemotherapy. In fact, I think it is absurd. I see no good end to this for Israel or for the Palestinians.
The press hardly covers it, but there is a good deal of dissent within Israel against what the government is doing right now. This is a difficult subject to write about, but I don't back away from anything that I've said.
Mimi, I agree with you. I have no support for Hamas but feel Israel is going too far. All I can suggest is people find a way to give practical aid by support for the Al Ahli Arab Hospital. It is run by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. I have been able to support it through Anglicord here in Australia but am sure Americans can find a way to send support by a search on the net. Because of its location in the centre of the City, the Hospital is able to receive casualties from a number of heavily populated neighbourhoods. It works closely with the Palestinian National Authority Ministry of Health, so when there is a demand for patient care, Ahli Arab Hospital is the first to receive the overflow from the government hospital in the central area of Gaza. While a Christian (Anglican/Episcopal to be precise) run hospital it helps all people so I feel it is a way I can give a small practical gift rather than just sitting here wringing my hands.
ReplyDeleteFurther to above, to donate and read more visit:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.americanfriends-jerusalem.org/crisis.htm
People forget just how subsidised Israel is - bankrolled largely by a country with its own severe economic problems too. Not that Israel is not resourceful. Yet it is taking advantage of the end of a dismal American regime, to give its enemy a thumping whatever the outcome - with real human misery as a result.
ReplyDeleteBrian, thank you. Yours is an excellent suggestion for a way to help.
ReplyDeletePluralist, I believe you're right. The Israelis are running out the clock with a wave of violence.
Another place to give Episcopal Relief and Development - they have the highest rating from Charity Navigator. The cycle of revenge will not stop using violence - your are right Mimi.
ReplyDelete